RICALDE OSCANOA PATRICIA

Reading and Writing Portfolio 11

Reading a story

Telling a story Writing verb forms in narratives;

getting ideas; a narrative
Review Past Simple; Past
1 Read the fi rst part of the story and put pictures A–F in order. Continuous; crime

2 Read the story again. Are these

sentences true (T) or false (F)?
A B 1 T Detective Inspector Carr knew
the man on the phone.
2 T The man told Carr what the
thieves planned to steal.
C D 3 F The police immediately knew
who the robbers were.
4 T The thieves were planning to
steal some diamonds and £200
million.
E 1 F
5 F There were three people
involved in the robbery.
Operation Magician: The Robbery of the Century
6 T The real diamonds were not
It was a warm day in the middle of summer, when Detective Inspector Sam Carr’s in the Dome at the time of the
E phone rang. The man on the phone was speaking quietly, but Carr recognised his
voice. robbery.
“There’s going to be a robbery near the River Thames,” the man said
quietly. “The thieves are going to use a boat to escape.”
Carr rang his boss and told him about the strange phone call. The police HELP WITH WRITING
D immediately started an investigation*. They called it ‘Operation Verb forms in narratives
Magician’. For the next few weeks, they watched many different places
near the River Thames, including banks and also, of course, the 3 a Match these verb forms to
Millennium Dome. sentences a–c from the story.
A few weeks later, Carr knew that the Dome was connected with the
1 Past Simple C
robbery. He also knew the names of the suspects. But what were the
thieves planning to do? The police put cameras inside the Dome and 2 Past Continuous A
C started fi lming all the visitors.
st 3 Past Simple passive B
On 1 September, three of the suspects were seen in the Dome.
They were looking at the diamond exhibition in the Money Zone and a But what were the thieves
they were especially interested in the Millennium diamonds – a
collection worth over £200 million. planning to do?
For the next month, Carr and his officers watched six suspects carefully. st
b On 1 September, three of the
The men were testing a JCB digger* and a boat. But Carr still didn’t
F th suspects were seen in the Dome.
know the time of the robbery. On 6 November, Carr decided to change
the real diamonds for fake* ones. c The police immediately started
th
B At 3.00 am on 7 November, Carr arrived at the Dome and spoke to the an investigation.
200 police officers who were waiting inside.
b Read the story again. Which are
Six hours later, the Dome was open. It was unusually busy for that time in
the two most common verb forms
A the morning – Carr and his officers weren’t wearing uniforms. They were
dressed as tourists, cleaners and other workers. in the story? BE and GO
*investigation = when the police try to discover the facts about a
crime *JCB digger = a large machine used to move earth *fake =
c Underline three examples of the most
not real
common verb forms in the story.

84
4 Read the end of the story. Fill in the gaps with the
correct form of the verbs in brackets.
 RICALDE OSCANOA PATRICIA
A few minutes after 9.30 am, while Carr and his offi cers 6 Match the fi rst lines of stories 1–3
1 to questions a–c.
were walking (walk) around the Money Zone, a JCB digger
2 (crash) into the side of the Dome. Three men
1 B Ian fi rst met Nicole at a police station
3
jumped out* of the digger and (break into) the
in central London.
glass case* with the fake diamonds.
2 A Suzie recognised the writing on the
Carr and his offi cers moved quickly. They took their guns out of
4 letter immediately and suddenly felt
the bags that they (carry) and then they
5 (arrest) the men in the Money Zone. Outside, very nervous.
6
another man (wait) in the boat. The police C Laurie had a problem, but he knew who
3
quickly arrested him. Operation Magician was a complete
to speak to.
7WAS SHOOTING
success. No one WAS (shoot) or seriously hurt. Carr a Who wrote the letter? Why did she feel that
8
and his officers WERE (be) amazed and very pleased. way? What did she do next?
9
After the robbery, police FOUND (fi nd) the receipt for the b Why was he there? Why was she
10
boat. What WAS (be) the name on the receipt?
there? What happened?
‘Mr Diamond’, of course.
c What was his problem? Who was he going
*jump out = get out of a car, lorry, etc. suddenly and quickly to talk to? What did he do next?
*(glass) case = furniture used for displaying something, for example, in a museum
7 a Choose one of the stories in 6. Then
answer the three questions in 6 to get
HELP WITH WRITING ideas for the story.
Getting ideas 8
1. Who wrote the letter?
5 a Read the fi rst sentence of the story. Can you
remember the answers to questions 1–3? His sister wrote him a letter from Perú.
2. Why did she feel that way?
It was a warm day in the middle of summer, when
Suzie was nervous because they sent her
Detective Inspector Sam Carr’s phone rang.
news of her father's kidnapping.
1 Who was on the phone? Sam Carr
3. What did she do next?
2 What did he tell Carr? There’s going to be a robbery near the She took a flight to Perú.
River Thames.

3 What did Carr do next? Carr rang his boss and told him about
the strange pone call.

b Read the beginning of the story in 1 to check

your answers.

c You can get ideas about writing a story by thinking of

TIP • The first sentence of a story is important because it
questions about the fi rst line. Look at this fi rst line and
should interest the reader.
notice the questions we can ask to get ideas.
b Write a story beginning with one of the fi rst
First line of the story: As soon as Ashley walked into the lines in 6.
room, she knew something was wrong. ● Use your notes from 7a.
Some questions: What was wrong? What could she see? ● Use the Past Simple and Past Continuous in
the story.
● Write about 100–150 words.
● Read and check for mistakes.
● Give your story to your teacher in your
next class.
What did Ashley do next?

Suzie is an interchange student, she is 22 years old, she is

. from Peru but I travel to Australia for a semester.
Last week she received a letter and was very nervous as her
sister sent it to her saying that her father had been
85